Tag Archives: winter hiatus activities

I am not a vest guy. Vests are born of trout fishing and its complexities in fly requirements and gear adornment. I just like to have a pouch I can sling on my back and haul a few flies, some tippet, and a jackknife.

I used to use this great waterproof sling pouch that Body Glove made for a while for surfers. It finally frayed around the zippers after 10 years of abuse. Body Glove stopped making it. I searched in vain for its equal before settling on the massively imperfect North Face Roo Pouch. (Meant to be a fanny pack; I adapted it to satchel duty.)

I’m normally not a gear salivator but when I saw that Orvis came out with the Safe Passage Sling Pack I didn’t hesitate. I haven’t had a chance to work with it yet or even adjust the straps, but I am excited by the possibilities and the further enabling of simplicity.

Imperceptible to RADAR

The only other fishing related product in the Christmas haul came in the form of Monic Fly Line. I’ve been meaning to try out this stuff for a time now, to see if I can erase moments of time like the newly reported invisibility cloak experiments, or just be more stealthy in my increased to desire to sight fish. I am eager to try the all-weather line on my 6W to see if it’s not seen.

At the very least, I am now a piston in the vast engine of economic recovery, one bit of paraphernalia at a time.

In the period of winter dormancy there’s a fine line to walk between considering yourself a fisherman or just someone who likes the idea of it. There are things built around it all to engage in, like the daily scanning of other peoples’ thoughts and images, and the expos. But after a while all of it stands to serve as reminder of what you’re not doing.

The thing to do is dig the rod tube out from underneath the crusty Grundens, walk to the park down the street, and start flinging line in the snow. Remember some of the things you heard the old man say at the Somerset casting demo about speed not power. Having the line in the air is the next best thing to having the line in the air over water, which is the next best thing to having the line come tight in your hand.

Ignore the dude with the dog and the frisbee looking at you strange; the park is clearly posted no dogs or skateboards or lacrosse sticks, but there’s nothing about 8-weights. Practice, man, it restores the mind.*